This invention relates to window screen construction, and more particularly to rolling window screens.
Window screens are often constructed to be of wire or plastic mesh stretched flat across a rigid, rectangular frame. While such screens are popular, a disadvantage is that the screens obscure clear vision through windows, and are subject to wear and damage even while not in use.
An alternative to flat screens was introduced about fifty years ago, and was a basis for the founding of the Rolscreen Company of Pella, Iowa. This alternative was the rolling screen which, like a window blind, was pulled downward from a roll atop an open window and released to be returned upward by spring action to the roll.
The rolling screen was improved over the years and had many advantages, but it did retain some disadvantages and limitations. A major limitation was that the construction of the rolling screen required that it be factory produced as a component of a special casement window. The rolling screen was not adaptable to standard casement windows, and could not be installed by distributors or owners to such windows. As a result, the screen required special ordering of the special casement windows, with the predictable increased costs of limited, special order production; increased inventory; and the like.
A disadvantage of the rolling screen was that the screen was only positionable either fully retracted or fully extended. The screen did not allow for convenient operation of casement window accessories. The screen rose rapidly to a retracted position, sometimes at a surprising speed.